Peter Mohrbacher

Pisces - Colors and Detail

Added 2018-01-31 01:30:48 +0000 UTC

Making big changes late in the process is never the plan. The hope, is that it ultimately creates a better painting. In this case, I have absolutely no regrets about that changes I made.

The first one was a trick I had done before. Borrowing from Brom's work, I discovered that compressing the value range in the figure could give them a stronger presence. Trying out a simple wash of white across this figure resulted in an immediate improvement. By giving Barchiel a wash of white paint, I was able to pull it off the background while using the reflected light in the scene from making it overly monochromatic.

Newly injected variation in the figure gave rise to permission to vary the colors in the background as well. Using a variety of hues in both the warm and cool colors gave the whole palette a more lush and lively feel, which was really important to the themes of this painting.

I also eliminated any bio-luminescence from Barchiel. In order to more effectively evoke the feeling of a sea anemone, I gave the tendrils on its head a softer more transparent look. That balanced much better with the lighting an composition as well.